Berry of Broome
by Nehszriah
Summary: [One Shot] Because Ms. Rodda leaves the reader's imgaination to write things like this... [BardaLindal]


I so wished I owned Deltora Quest! -cries- I do not own Deltora Quest, Emily Rodda does. Shocking, I know. Excuse the Nez-chan if she is wrong on something, she read all fifteen books in DQ 1-3 really quickly and they were on loan, so the only things I have to use as reference is a random fanfic and me memory. As a warning, me memory sort of sucks.

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**Berry of Broome**

Barda sighed as he looked over himself. There were imperfections everywhere. Bags had formed under his eyes, his gait faltered with a very slight limp, he could have sworn he had seen a gray hair or two earlier, all because of his adventures. His adventures with Lief and Jasmine, the King of Deltora and his beloved and soon-to-be Queen, that is what did this to him. For near three years he ran around all of Deltora playing nursemaid to two young hotheads. Now the country was safe, evil suppressed and the people at peace. Now, Barda could finally concentrate on himself.

Double-checking his spiffy blue uniform in the mirror, he fussed over it continually for ten minutes. He had to be perfect. Well, as perfect as he could possibly be. The Captain of the Guard left his lofty room in the small town inn and went down towards the stables. There he retrieved the noble golden mare called Honey and galloped off towards the west.

As Barda stopped by a creek to rest at high noon, he could barely contain himself. Within the next few hours, he would be at his destination. Happily, he remembered the last meeting he had with Lief before his outing.

"_Please Lief, I would like permission to go out and run a personal mission."_

"_You do not need permission to do such a thing," King Lief had replied._

"_Yes, for it is a mission not concerning the condition of the state or people, but me," Barda had said._

"_You may go. Just try to be back as soon as you can. You never know."_

True, it had been embarrassing to ask permission to leave from the boy. He had watched Lief grow up before his eyes in the streets of Del. Almost twenty-five years his junior, it always seemed humiliating to even refer to the hot-head as his superior.

_Barda walked through the castle, headed up to his room. Suddenly, the man Doom blocks his path._

"_Are you not about twenty or so years late for this?" Doom asked. A menacing grin crept across his face, almost as if to uncharacteristically tease Barda._

"_I might not have done it right if I started back then," Barda answered. "At least I have good reason to not be carrying the same burdens as yourself." He walked past the laughing Doom and up to his quarters to change._

That all seemed so long ago to Barda. Now he was on his way to complete a task that men his age did years ago. He got back up onto Honey and rode off once more. Before long, he could see the outskirts of a seashore city. Tall and proud, Barda lead his horse into Broome, Deltora's great city of the west.

"Barda the Bear! How good to see you!" Broome's Elder Leader said happily as Barda rode up to the town's council hall. Barda knew he would be welcomed warmly, having helped the people of Broome not too long ago. The Elder Leader lead him into the hall, cheerily announcing Barda's arrival.

Yet it was strange, for the one face he tried to pick out was not there. Before him were many prominent citizens of Broome, yet not who he traveled all the way across the country to see.

"Elder Leader," Barda asked quietly. "Where is Lindal? I need to speak with her. It is very important."

"Of course! News from King Lief for our noble warrior no doubt. Come with me then. She just returned from a journey not too long ago," the old man wheezed. Barda sighed and followed the man out of the hall, into the depths of the city. He easily kept pace with the codger, who seemed to have a limp much worse than himself and before long, they were in front of a large farmhouse near the edge of the city.

"Yes, what is it?" a woman asked, opening the door when the Elder Leader knocked. She was of the short and dumpy sort, aging tremendously and a shriveled bald head marked with indigo patterns.

"Hello Dracaena, is Lindal here? There is news from Del," the Elder Leader said.

"No, no there is not," Barda tried to cut in. It was futile. Both the old woman and Elder Leader did not pay any attention. The woman disappeared for a moment's time and then Lindal appeared in the doorway.

"Yes?" she asked huskily. She seemed slightly different than Barda had remembered her. True there was still the swirling red patterns on her shaved head and her traveling clothes from the first time they met in Del were still there, but there was something in her voice maybe... or even her stance that made her seem slightly foreign.

"News from Del," the Elder Leader said. With that, he departed and left Barda to his "secret council".

"Come in you old fool," Lindal laughed. "We can discuss matters in here."

"I prefer not. Can we go somewhere we can be truly alone?" Barda asked. He tried his best not to turn red in the face.

"But Na-na will not..."

"Please, by where the Sister of the West's warning stone was. We have to be alone," Barda pleaded

"Then this _must_ be secret," Lindal said, a sly grin creeping across her face. She told her grandmother they were leaving and set off for the stone.

Barda remembered the way to where the stone sat well. The great precipice beyond Broome was a hefty climb and was no the more easier to ascend. Having reached the plateau where the path flattened out, Lindal turned around and looked sternly at Barda.

"What are King Lief's orders?" she asked in a strictly-business tone. Barda brushed some of the dirt off his uniform that had stubbornly accumulated there and cleared his throat.

"There for one, is no news from Del," Barda said officially. Lindal frowned.

"Then why did you bring me all the way up here then? Have all those palace drills gone to your head?" she exclaimed, frustrated beyond reason.

"I have to talk to you," Barda answered.

"Now why would you need to talk to me if it was not about Deltora matters?" Lindal huffed. She sat down on a nearby rock situated at the base of a large pile that turned into a wall further along the path to the ruby dragon's nest.

"Well, in a way it is, one would guess," Barda said vaguely, sitting down next to Lindal. She shifted away from him slightly, as if to essentially avoid his touch.

"Are you getting somewhere with this? If not you can just go home. I bet your high status worries your wife whenever you are out."

Barda tried to stifle laughter. Smiling, he looked up at the afternoon sky, crystalline blue and speckled with white fluffy clouds.

"What is so funny?" Lindal asked. She sounded quite upset. Barda looked over at her and saw her face grow livid with frustration.

"Did you really think that I was married?" he laughed. "What ever gave you that idea?"

"You always seemed like one who went through th stress of raising a child or two," she answered curtly.

"No, I was just a nurse-maid for our King as a young brat."

"We are getting off topic. Why are you here?"

"Since when were we off the topic?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to be that wife you mistook me to have?"

Everything went quiet. A slight breeze made its way over them, whistling lightly in their ears. It seemed like forever and a day passed before Lindal spoke.

"Why would you ask me you old bear?" she asked. Barda could hear her voice soften. She sounded nervous. At least that made two of them.

"I never was really interested in women to be honest. Not for a long time. Before the Shadow Lord's reign, I was too concentrated on becoming Captain of the Guard. During those long years when Deltora was thrown into darkness I played the role of a helpless beggar in the streets of Del. I really just looked after King Lief as he grew up. The only woman I knew in those days was Sharn, when she went by Anna of the Forge. Then were the quests to save Deltora. Since then, I have thought of my future constantly."

"...and finding a wife?" Lindal said, trying to hide a nervous and spiteful tone.

"Not so much that at first. It just all came to me though. I did try looking, but every time I seemed to come to a dead end, your name came to mind. A painted doll is not for me. I would rather have someone who knows a warrior's life. Someone bold and daring..."

"Well I'm touched," Lindal said monotonously. "Yet, what if I refuse your proposal?"

"Then I might not ever become a married man then," Barda chuckled slightly.

"How would this concern the whole kingdom?" Lindal asked suddenly. Barda let out a carefree laugh.

"If you accept and we marry, we would have children, right?"

"Right..."

"Those children would be the offspring of two of Deltora's greatest warriors. Do you not think there would be a fighter or two somewhere in that bunch of miscreants?"

"I guess..."

"Lindal?"

"Barda."

"Please?"

"Please what?"

"You know!"

"I do?"

"Yes! Come on and answer me!"

"What am I supposed to answer?"

"Whatever your heart tells you to say."

"You are an old fool."

Slight laughter from both parties, then silence.

"That it?"

"Maybe... unless..."

Silence once more.

"Unless what?"

"Right, I've decided."

"Don't keep me in suspense!"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

Barda turned around to see Lindal still sitting next to him, a wide smile across her face.

"What are you, an echo?" she laughed.

"Maybe," he giggled. Happily, Barda went and kissed Lindal. Nothing could make him forget this moment. "By Adin, I am going to be married!"

"Uh, yeah," Lindal sighed. "You know, I have been getting pressure from Na-na to find a husband."

"Really?" Barda said as they started to descend the cliff together.

"Yes. Now she will be so happy that I am going to have a husband and kids and the family home will be full of noise again."

"Family home...?" Barda asked.

"Yes, in Broome. We just came from there, remember?"

"I wanted to stay in Del. I am the Captain of the Guard..."

"Then you will have to be Captain of the Guard from Broome," Lindal said frankly.

"Wrestle you for it," Barda said jokingly.

"You're on," Lindal said with a smirk. Barda stood there and thought to himself...

_Oh Barda, what have we gotten ourselves into?

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There you have it. Angst to romance to some form of odd humor. Huzzah! Was the name fitting? I thought it best, since he pretended to be from Broome and all. Well, you know the drill. Review please! Arigato!


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